Couch cushions and an end table rested in St. Armands Circle Park on Friday near a plastic garbage can and a black folding chair.
Debris stacked at the curb from Hurricane Helene either blew or floated throughout St. Armands Circle as Hurricane Milton lashed the Sarasota coastline.
The garbage was an easy target for some frustrated business owners to themselves lash out at Friday afternoon.
Brittney Dixon, whose family has owned businesses on the popular St. Armands Circle tourist destination since the early 1990s, was on edge after a traumatic two weeks.
“Where the hell is our help? We feel forgotten out here. That was before the second” hurricane,” she said of the trash scattered on the circle.
“Ninety percent of the store owners feel defeated, like no help is coming. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel.”
Typically, after a hurricane passes and local authorities open up Lido Key, the entire island bustles with energy as the more than 100 small business owners on St. Armands Circle rush to open for customers as soon as possible.
Already waterlogged after Helene, few merchants were rushing to sweep out water Friday afternoon. Either they knew rushing would not matter this time, or for some, the days since Helene struck Sept. 27 had fatigued the storm-battered shop owners.
Rachel Burns, director of sales and marketing for the St. Armands Circle Association, said so many of the business owners had already gutted their stores after Helene deluged the circle with several feet of storm surge.
With power off for most of St. Armands Circle on Friday, there wasn’t much that business owners could do until power was restored.
Still, Burns, whose husband owns Lynches Pub & Grub on the circle, has faith the commercial hub for the tourist destination will rebound.
Her family has visited the circle for years, going back to when she was a little girl. Her first job was was at Nine West, which closed years ago on St. Armands, with the Venezia restaurant in that space now.
“We’re all looking forward … to the end of hurricane season,” she said, referring to Nov. 30, the technical close of the six month-period when most storms form.
Burns said both Sarasota county and city officials had been in contact with the association, with local officials working under difficult situations. She said the county had installed temporary pumps in some locations during the storm to supplement a pump system on St. Armands, and that they cleared all the drains before and after both hurricanes.
“I want to stress that the county and the city have been out here working,” Burns said.
Wary of potential changes for St. Armands, Lido Key
Just off the circle at South Washington Drive and Boulevard of the Presidents, Rob Buckley held a leaf blower clearing his front yard of debris and a grudge against a Marriott hotel on University Avenue.
The Canadian had made the trip from Ontario to check on his property on St. Armands, before having to shelter at the offending local hotel, which he said charged him $300 per night with no discount, despite losing power and requiring guests to lean mattresses against the property’s windows during the storm.
Buckley said while his property fared well this time, several of his neighbors had suffered serious damage from the back-to-back storms.
“This is horrible,” he said. “I’m very sad for everyone impacted.”
One of Buckley’s neighbors, who declined to provide a name, also was aggrieved that storm debris was left uncollected after Hurricane Helene.
“I don’t understand, how with a community this wealthy, how that trash was not picked up,” he said.
Marc Hayman, another resident who lives near St. Armands, saw 13 inches of water intrusion caused by Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton caused a second round of flooding, but this time at about 3 inches inside his home from “wind-driven rain.”
He’s owned the property for about 23 years and had not been flooded before.
“These people are so fed up,” he said. “I think people are going to reconsider” if it’s worth it.
He’s worried that some of the owners may sell their homes to investors looking to create more vacation rentals in the community.
Just Friday morning, Hayman said he received a phone call from a number he did not recognize. The call came from a someone checking to see if he was interested in selling his Sarasota property.
“I worry the character and ambiance will forever be changed,” Hayman said.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Milton adds to frustration for St. Armands area residents , merchants
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